SFGate

Julie Dvorak more pics

Julie Dvorak one more pic

Pamela Bateman Garden Design Is the front door past the bay window? It looks like the bay window eats up most of the entrance. You have the room so you might consider an entrance courtyard. Look on Houzz 'entrance gardens' in photos and you will find lots of ideas. It is nice if your guests do not have to walk up the driveway to get to your front door. You have a lovely house. The arbor looks a little lonely. I can't tell if it is in the front yard. I don't see it in any of the other pictures. Perhaps plant a garden around the arbor and make it a destination by having paths lead out to the garden and arbor. I am sorry but it is hard to tell if there are paths with the snow covering the ground. Anyway it looks like you have lots of room. Do you like to garden? There are endless possibilities with your yard. A local garden designer could help you with ideas for a garden and help you with plants that do well in your area. Start by finding pictures of gardens you like in Houzz.

Darlene Rantala great place. to start right where the flag is at...some taller trees flanked with shrubs for a welcome in would look great. the front door could be a pepper red with heavier rocks in the front for grounding. good luck

Robert Agreed to Darlene. The flkag area sounds too good and arranging some shrubs round there would definitely make a marvel to your outdoor look. Get the concrete pavement done for the outdoor area as that would add an elegance to your outdoor too. Make the garden pathways a little curvy one and add nice shrubs on the sides and proper grass arrangement and flowers plantation would transform the place completely.

Julie Dvorak Thanks. The bay window does cause a problem with comfortably getting to the front door.

Julie Dvorak Also, FYI, the driveway curves around the front of the house and leads to backyard where there are lots of outbuildings and few more acres. The arbor is in the front yard, which is huge. there is a stone irrigation ditch running through the front yard. the arbor is near that ditch and there is a small bridge there too

Bonnie Nice home. Congratulations! You have so much space to work with. I like the idea of creating a circular drive or entrance courtyard ... here are some ideas

Tred Avon Manor St. Michael's Maryland
Front yard
David Ludwig Studios
http://www.houzz.com/circular-driveway/p/8
Exterior
Lara Exterior

Jennifer Smith You got a nice place to develop! Adding landscape will make it lively. I also like the idea of having a circular drive or entrance courtyard. A patio place will also be good. We have one in our house and it is really nice. We have a place where we can stay with the entire family and have some conversation. I even got a fire pit from Buytikitorches.com which we use during cold nights. But this one can cover only the front space of your home and approximately 6X6 m to 8x8 m of your yard. Yours is really wide. Is the entire yard yours? What is the area of it?

Julie Dvorak the entire property is 5.5 acres. the front large is large as you can see, but i don't know the specific dimensions. The back yard is even larger. Here are some pictures of the sunroom out backback and a couple views of the backyard. the tilled ground beyond the grass is also ours

Pamela Bateman Garden Design I have lots of land too so the best way to tackle it is to work on an overall plan and divide the areas into sections according to how you will use them. As you can see from the pictures that Bonnie posted it is important for the entrance to be quite grand. The entrance patio or courtyard should take up the entire area in front of the two story part of the house. I would remove the bed directly in front of the door and make the patio/courtyard come out at least to the large conifer. You could beef up the pillars at the front door. In addition to the entrance courtyard you may want to have a garden somewhere in the front yard maybe by the arbor. Have the arbor lead to a small rose garden, or perennial flower garden, enclosed by other shrubs. It would be nice for that garden to include an area around the arbor the ditch and the bridge. Do you want block any of the views out front? If so plant a grove of trees in that area. Think about having a meadow area. There is information here on Houzz for meadow gardens and you can google the subject for more ideas. How about planting a small fruit orchard in the back. A vegetable garden would also be nice. The idea is to make a list of all the things you would like to have in your yard and then find a place for them and then connect them with paths. If your budget is limited start with the entrance and then work around the property as your budget allows. I hope this helps